


cinderthor

by lordofthunders



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Relationships, I'm Bad At Tagging, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, cinderella type fic i guess?, i do not know anything about american high schools, odin is a terrible father, sorry if i mess up, thor's failing physics and so am i
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:15:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23858182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lordofthunders/pseuds/lordofthunders
Summary: 'The cafeteria was alive with news, there was going to be a party held by the most popular kids in school to get one of them a date. No one knew which one it was, but everyone was invited.'ever since his mom left, thor had been dealing with two selfish siblings and his dad. when a party happens to get one of the most popular kids in school a date, thor knows this is his chance to confess his feelingsa cinderella fic because lockdown's really getting to me
Relationships: Bruce Banner/Thor, Brunnhilde | Valkyrie & Thor (Marvel)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> it's been a while since i last wrote a fic! lockdown's driving me crazy so why not write this while i'm trying to cope with being stuck in the house until god knows when. i also have no idea about american high school so i hope i got that right

Ever since his mother left, Thor had been stuck helping around the house. Sure, he was the eldest, but something just didn’t feel right. Until he went to high school, he thought it was normal to do all the cooking, all the cleaning, and anything his two younger siblings and his dad wanted. It was only when his grades started slipping and he started to fall asleep in class that he realised it wasn’t normal. 

“Odinson!” Dr Fury shouted at Thor. It was third period physics, not Thor’s favourite subject but one he could stand. Especially because the boy he was sat next to was cute. But he couldn’t say anything because, well, ‘looking’ after his family took up most of his time. 

“Sorry sir.” Thor replied. A hot flush ripped up his back, if the boy realised he had been staring at him for the whole class he would be mortified 

“Your task for this weekend is a project on Newton’s Laws and gravity. Work with your lab partners, the list is on the door on the way out.” As if by magic, the bell went, and everyone started to pack up and leave. His partner stood up and left with the rest of his group. So he was popular then. No chance he would get with Thor. He grabbed his bag and made it to his next class, remembering to check the list of partners. He scanned the list, looking for his name, when it jumped out at him. 

Thor Odinson – Bruce Banner. 

Oh no. That was the cute guy he was sat next to. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The cafeteria was alive with news, there was going to be a party held by the most popular kids in school to get one of them a date. No one knew which one it was, but everyone was invited. 

Thor sat down next to his best friend, Valkyrie, and put his head on the table. With the stress of home life, school and now his big crush, he was having the biggest headache. He couldn’t stand lifting his head up, knowing Val wanted to talk, but when he heard a soft, ‘You’re Thor Odinson right?’ his head flew up off the table. 

Bruce Banner was stood there, looking straight at him. 

“Y..yes I am.” Thor stuttered back, in awe that his crush was stood mere centimetres away from him. 

“I was wondering if I could do the project Fury set, I’ve seen your work, and I see your grades need a little boost. I’ll make it look like the both of us have done it,” Bruce said. Thor sat there in awe, he couldn’t believe what he just said. “My only thing I want from you is that you go to the party tomorrow 

“Are you sure? Parties aren’t really my thing.” Truth is, Thor had never been to a party. His father never let him go. 

“That’s why I want you to come. Please.” Bruce looked like he was desperate for Thor to go. 

“Ok, I’ll go” 

“Sweet, I’ll text you the address” and with that, Bruce left to go back to his table. 

“Someone’s got a crush!” Val teased. For the first time in what felt like forever, Thor had something to look forward to. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Thor returned home that day to his dad and siblings out. A note was left on the table, ‘We’ve gone out to the mall. Make sure dinner is ready for when we get back.’ A mall trip took hours sometimes, so Thor got the ingredients out for a stew, something simple that would still be warm when they get back. He cleaned the house, did the washing up from breakfast, dusted, and as he sat down to do his homework, the door burst open. His dad and siblings walked in, and made the area Thor had just tidied look like a warzone. He knew better to speak up though, his arm still bore the scar. 

“Is the food ready? We’re starving!” His dad asked he sat down at the table. Thor brought the crockpot over and placed it on the table, letting his dad take food from it. There was an unwritten rule that Thor wasn’t allowed to sit at the table while his dad and siblings ate, so he sat and did his homework, while wondering if there was going to be any food left for him. 

“Thor, come here.” Thor gingerly approached the table, and stood in the doorway. “I heard there was a party tomorrow. You are not allowed to go as your brother and sister are going, you understand? They don’t need you to be babying them throughout the night, and I have counsel business, so I’ll be gone all night. While we’re all out, you need to fix the drains, paint your brothers bedroom…” The list lasted forever, and most of them were silly things, purposefully made so Thor wouldn’t have any spare time at all. With the last thing on the list spoken, he went back into the kitchen to start clearing up. He had broken his promise to Bruce, and that physics report was 30% of his final grade. Sighing, he opened his laptop and started researching Newton’s Laws. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The door slammed shut on Thor, and the silence covered him like a blanket. The day had been manic, with preparations taking forever, both his sister and brother’s hair had to be dyed, they went through what felt like hundreds of outfits but they finally chose one, and with them gone, Thor could finally relax. He took out his phone to text Bruce to tell him he couldn’t make it tonight, when out of nowhere, he felt someone staring at him. Thor grabbed the nearest thing that he could use as a weapon and entered the kitchen. There, he was faced with the one person he thought he would never see again. 

His mom. 

“Mom?” 

“Hello darling. I heard about the party. Come on, someone’s waiting for you.” 

His mom magically made some new clothes appear, and while Thor hastily threw them on his mom went looking around. 

“He really doesn’t care about you, does he?” his mother said, voice dripping with sympathy. 

“None of them do really, since you left. I miss you so much.” Thor replied 

“I miss you too darling. Come on, let’s get you to the party.” With that, she magicked some car keys out of thin air and passed them to him. 

“Thank you, for everything.” Thor looked up at his mother, her face full of pride. 

“Thank me when you get the boy. Make sure you’re back before midnight, cause your dad will be back” 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The party was rammed, with people from every group there. Theatre kids, jocks, nerds, band kids, not one person wasn’t there. As soon as he stepped through the door, he had an arm around him, a drink thrown into his hand and a small whisper of “Thank you.” Thor could only assume it was Bruce, so when he was met with his crushes face next to him, a smile crept across his face. Maybe tonight wouldn’t be so bad after all. 

A few hours passed, and while Thor had only seen his siblings once, things were going great. He had spoken to many people he had never spoken to before and was enjoying himself. Until an announcement was made. 

“Thank you for coming everyone, we didn’t expect to have this many people turn up! Let’s welcome our bachelor up onto the stage, come on Bruce!” 

Thor’s heart sank into his stomach, he had been surrounded by so many people all night, he hadn’t spoken to Bruce at all. He checked the time on his phone and realised what it was. 

A church bell rang out. 

Dong. 

“So, thank you all for coming,” 

Dong. 

“Tonight’s been amazing,” 

Dong. 

“So, after much consideration,” 

Dong.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> odin's a dick. that's it. that's the chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a short chapter this time, i'm working on the next few so i won't abandon this one, plus i have an amazing beta who motivates me to write this so ily bea <3

Thor couldn’t take it any longer. He ran out of the house, pushing past anyone and everyone and threw himself into his car. He sped off into the night, tears streaming down his face as his one chance at confessing his feelings gone. 

Dong. 

“The lucky man is,” 

Dong. 

Thor turned corners like a madman, desperately trying to get home before his dad got home. 

Dong. 

“Thor Odinson!” 

Dong. 

Thor tuned the last corner to get into his house, his dad’s car sat in the driveway. 

Dong. 

“Let’s bring him up onto the stage! Thor, where are you?” 

Dong. 

Thor turned the car engine off. His dad was back, and he would know that he went to the party. 

Dong. 

“Has anyone seen Thor?” Thor’s siblings turned to each other; Dad wouldn’t be happy. 

Dong. 

“You went to the party, didn’t you?” Odin roared at Thor. He didn’t even let Thor into the house, just stood in the doorway and screamed at him. “After everything I have done for you, all the things I have given you, for you to disobey me. I told you not to go, and your brother told me he saw you with the guy they were trying to get a date for! You’re a sick freak you know that.” With that final statement, Odin grabbed Thor’s arm and pulled him into the house, through the kitchen, down the hall, and up the stairs to his room. He shoved Thor in and slammed the door shut, with the sound of a key turning in a lock echoing in the room. Thor slumped down behind the door and wept. His perfect evening ruined by his selfish father.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you're enjoying this please comment & leave kudos ;)  
> if you wanna chat thorbruce/marvel with me i'm @odinsonbanner on insta!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> everyone's concerned and i turn to rapunzel for inspiration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for not updating this, i got swamped by school work, but here's a super long chapter to make up for it !  
> i will update more regularly, but it all depends on how much work i get set

Monday. No one had seen or heard from Thor since the party. It wasn't like him to just vanish, so something must have happened on the way home. Bruce sat down in physics; the empty chair next to him bearing a solid reminder of what happened at the party. Thor may not be interested in boys; he might have just embarrassed him enough that he was never coming back to school. Bruce pulled his phone out to text Thor, when he realised something. Thor hadn't responded to any of his messages. 

They hadn’t even been opened. 

Something wasn’t right here. And Bruce was going to find out what had really happened to Thor. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Thor wasn’t sure what time it was, or how long he had been locked in there. It was like he’d just been forgotten. His small stash of food he kept in his room was getting smaller by the day, he hoped his dad would let him out, even if it was to beat him up. Nothing would hold back his father when he was angry, so he would have to stay as far away from him as possible. A thought crossed Thor’s mind, if he was away from school for more than a couple of days, they would ring the police who would go to his house, maybe he could signal them. 

He got up, joints creaking at the sudden movement, and staggered over to his school bag, which had been dumped there when he returned from school on Friday and pulled out an old exercise book. He ripped out the middle pages and wrote, ‘last door at the end of the corridor’ and stuck it to the window, which, lucky for him, faced the street. Now, he just has to wait. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Do you know where Thor lives?” Bruce asked Valkyrie at lunch that day. He knew that his only friend was Val and didn't want Thor’s siblings to know he was trying to find him. 

“Yeah, he lives at 616 Asgard Road. But be careful, his dad’s a psychopath, he doesn’t like Thor having friends. If I'm being truly honest, I think his dad’s abusive. One time in middle school he came in with bruises across his back, and claimed he fell off his bike. Only he didn’t have a bike. Here,” she handed Bruce a can of pepper spray, “if the worst comes to the worst, spray him, grab Thor and get the hell out of there. Do you have a story as to why you’re going over?” 

The duo spent the rest of their lunch hour brainstorming ideas as to why he could go over, ranging from Thor leaving a jacket at the party to the project needing finishing. Eventually, they reached an agreement on the oldest one in the book, that Bruce had the work that Thor missed that day and needed to speak to him about the project. When the bell went to signify the end of lunch, Valkyrie pulled Bruce into a hug and whispered “He has the biggest crush on you” into Bruce’s ear. 

This was no longer about helping a friend. 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thor heard a car door slam; it must be his siblings home from school. He hadn’t moved since he put the note on the window, and for good measure too. His walls seemed closer than ever before, and he started to feel dread piling up in his chest. The dread turned into pain, chest feeling like it was on fire, heart beating in his throat. He was gasping for air, taking short sharp breaths in and not really breathing out. The walls crept closer, he started to panic more and more until- 

There was tapping at the window. He stood up, and shakily walked over, grasping anything he could to keep him upright. As he approached the window, he heard another rattle against the glass. Whoever was throwing things at the window wanted to get his attention. 

He didn’t expect to see Bruce stood there. 

He motioned for Thor to open the window and pointed towards the note stuck there. 

“Have you been avoiding me, or have you been locked up there by your dad?” Bruce said jokingly, hoping to release some of the tension between them. 

“Ever since I got back from the party, I've been stuck up here. My dad found out I went, and he doesn’t do well with me going to parties, let alone parties to find someone a date.” Thor said, and then sighed. If his dad found out Bruce was there, he would go mental. 

“Do you have enough bedsheets to stretch down to the ground?” Bruce asked, “If you do, we can get you out of there and go straight to the police. You've been locked up there for two days now, and that’s false imprisonment, which is illegal.” Bruce had been brushing up on laws in case he needed to persuade Thor to leave. 

“I think I do.” Thor replied, and quickly started to strip his bed of sheets, knotting everything together, down to the last pillowcase. Thankfully his dad didn’t have home security so wouldn’t be able to pick up on his movements. He tied the rope(?) around his bedpost and pushed his bed against the wall under the window, to try and maximise the length of the rope. He then threw it out the window and quickly started to throw his most prized possessions in his bag, his camera, phone, wallet, stuffed animal his mom gave him, photos, some items of clothing and all his schoolbooks too. He threw that out the window, which Bruce caught and gently eased himself out the window, hoping that the knot around the bedpost would hold. He wasn’t so sure on how to abseil out a window, but with Bruce’s gentle guidance from the ground he managed it, and quickly yanked on the rope in an attempt to undo it, luckily it gave way. The duo then sprinted to Bruce’s car, pulled on their seatbelts then left. 

Neither didn’t care about what Thor’s dad would think, they just knew that Thor was now safe. 

But only for a few hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cliffhanger? totally not done before


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> if you thought odin was a terrible father before, have i got news for you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter has some violent scenes in it, so i would skip to near the end if violent scenes make you uncomfortable   
> this is the penultimate chapter :( the last chapter will be up at some point next week! thank you bea for bearing with me while i procrastinated :)

Bruce and Thor exited the police station, spirits high and very happy. They had given the police a full statement, with Bruce telling all he knew. They had got Val in earlier and she spoke to the police about what she knew too, and the receptionist said they had a very good case, and it would definitely lead to a conviction, or at least a restraining order. They reached Bruce’s car and were about to drive off when they saw it. 

Odin was stood holding a baseball bat, eyes full of anger. He stormed over to Thor and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and pulled him down to eye level. He stared straight into Thor’s eyes, fury clearly mounting in his throat, ready to start laying insults into his eldest, when Thor broke free from his grip and stood tall, towering over his father. 

He grabbed the baseball bat from his father's hands and threw it on the ground, with chips of it flying off as it bounced. Time seemed to slow down as Thor started into his father’s eyes and opened his mouth. 

“You don’t own me anymore. I am not your son.” 

Well, that would have left Thor’s mouth if Odin didn’t uppercut Thor and leave him unconscious on the floor. 

It would have left Thor’s mouth if Odin didn’t use brass knuckles. 

It would have left Thor’s mouth if his jaw wasn’t broken. 

Bruce sank to the floor and grabbed Thor tight, pulling him close as he called an ambulance. He wasn’t going to lose Thor after just getting him back. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Pain flew over Thor like a blanket as he woke up, Bruce grabbing his hand and shouting for the nurse. When she entered and made Bruce leave, it was then he realised he had a cuff around his wrist tying him to the bed. The nurse gave him more pain meds and he fell back asleep, full of confusion. 

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

He woke up again an hour later, with a policeman instead of Bruce at his side. He attempted to open his eyes but could only open one as the other as swollen shut. His jaw ached with wires poking it, and he could barely form words, but the policeman at his side kept bombarding him with questions, “Why did you make false accusations about your father?” “Why did you say he abused you when it’s clear you lied?” “Why would you lie to the police when you know the consequences?”. Why was thrown around a lot, and Thor couldn’t reply, which made the policeman even more mad. 

The policeman got up off the chair and leant over Thor, coffee breath mingling with the sterile smell of the hospital. He grabbed Thor’s jaw, and turned his face around to face him, fingers pressing on the bruises, the pain edging its way through Thor’s face towards his brain. The policeman whispered to Thor, so quiet he could barely hear it, but the words would haunt him forever. 

“You will go down for this you freak. No wonder why your dad wants you dead, you really know how to bring a man shame” 

It took all the strength Thor had in his body to form one word, but that one word hit a nerve. 

“No.” 

“You think you can say no? You’re looking at 5 years pal, you’ll be at least 22 by the time you get out, and all your friends would have moved on with their lives, gone to college, maybe even found a partner, apart from your little boyfriend, who’s also looking at 5 years. So why don’t you tell me the truth?” 

Thor looked at the policeman, stared straight into his eyes. Thor had seen many eyes, and he could always tell who was scared and who wasn’t. This cop was very clearly not scared, and had that look that reeked corruption, so Thor knew his dad was behind this. But being stuck in a hospital bed only increased hi chances of not making it out alive. So, he did the only thing he could. 

He pressed the help button.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter has fluff don't worry, thanks bea for telling me to do a happy ending, ily


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> our favourite characters get a somewhat happy ending!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god, this has been amazing to write, thank you for all the comments and kudos, and a shoutout to my beta bea (cosmiclokis) who has been the best, ily <3  
> i am gonna write a bit more, but idk, if anyone has any suggestions please let me know!

Bruce stepped into the sunlight, eyes burning from the sudden exposure. He had been in there for seven hours, with the police wanting every detail he knew about Thor’s relationship with Odin and why he helped Thor out. He had been let out because it had been 24 hours, but he knew they would find some way of bringing him back in. He jumped in his car and noticed a ticket on the windscreen (a ticket? Really?) and drove to the hospital, where he could try and plead with the nurses he knew from volunteering to give him five minutes with Thor, but when he arrived he didn't expect to see a cop being led out the room in cuffs. 

He didn't expect to see Thor holding the sides of his bed like it was the last thing he would ever do. 

He didn't expect to see the fear in Thor’s eyes 

He didn't expect to see the Thor’s facial expression change from total fear to happiness in less than a second. 

Bruce slowly stepped towards the bed, eyes brimming with tears and grabbed Thor’s hand. It felt soft, almost like a cat’s fur, yet he could feel the scars on the upper side, a consistent reminder of his dad’s abuse. 

Thor motioned for his phone, and Bruce passed it to him. A few seconds later Bruce got a text: 

‘The scars aren't just from Odin, they're from when I was born, I was premature, so wipe the look of worry off your face, I’m totally ok now, and I’m even better you’re now here.’ 

Bruce quickly changed facial expression and pulled over a nearby chair. “Sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up, the police took me in for questioning. Turns out it was because Odin payed the police off so they would arrest you instead. They’ve been watching you the past few months after Fury said something to the principal about your work. They knew he was abusing you, they just had to wait for the right moment,” Bruce gripped Thor’s hand tighter, or as tight as he could due to the IV in his hand, ”but you’re safe now, and you can live with me for as long as you want. Oh, and your brother and sister are going to stay with your grandparents for a while, so they can’t go anywhere near you.” He realised he had been staring at Thor’s lips, a stupid mistake, but now seemed like the best time to say it. 

“I’ve had a crush on you since we first met back in September in Physics, but Tony made me wait until the party because he was scared you’d break my heart. He was surprised I chose you, but I’d never, ever stop myself from confessing anything. I love you, Thor Odinson. I always have and i always will do.” 

Thor looked up at Bruce, eyes glistening with tears, a few escaping down his cheeks. By the look of things, he hadn’t experienced this before. 

Bruce stood up and learnt over Thor, bringing his face close to Thor’s, and pressed his lips against the other man’s, ignoring the wires holding his jaw in place. Thor kissed back, letting the pain float to the back of his mind as he finally experienced the kiss he’d wanted since September. 

And boy did it feel good. 

~six months later~ 

The past six months had been the best in Thor’s life. He finally had a boyfriend, a family who cared about him, and he was the happiest he’d ever been. Even his teachers had seen an improvement in Thor, with all his grades increasing from barely scraped Cs to A’s, and he was finally making new friends, and doing things his dad would never agree with. His dad had been sentenced to 7 years without parole, which was better than nothing, but was still something. Seeing his dad go down was the final nail in the coffin that was his Before days, and Thor could start on After. 

It was a cloudy day, the kind of day that makes getting out of bed and staying in a good mood all day hard to do. But not for Thor. He woke up, got dressed and left his house, after leaving a note for Bruce and his family. 

“Gone out for a drive. Be back for breakfast - Thor’ 

Thor pulled into a parking lot and got a package out his trunk. He walked a short while and stopped. 

“Thank you, mom, you have no idea how much I miss you, but you got me away from the man who put you here, and I will always love you, no matter how old I get.” 

He placed the flowers against the gravestone and left. 

Now to better days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope y'all enjoyed this!

**Author's Note:**

> thank you if you got this far, comments & kudos appreciated!  
> follow me on insta @odinsonbanner !


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